Today, we were closer to the sun than any other day of the year!
It may seem paradoxical, for here we are in the midst of winter. Yet this morning, we were closer to the sun then we will be any other day during the year.
Early this morning, we earthlings experienced being in Perihelion. The root word “peri” means “near” and “Helios” means “sun,” so basically we were closer to the sun in our orbit that we will be any other day of the year.
In this Perihelion, were just 91.4 million miles away from the surface of the sun. Next summer, as we travel to the furthest point in our orbit away from the sun, we will be about 3 million miles further away from the center of our solar system. That is when we will be in Aphelion.
The reason that we are cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer is the earth’s tilt on its axis. Seasons happen because the earth’s axis is tilted at a 23.4 degree angle. This angle determines how much sunlight we get in a given day.
In the winter time, the Northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, and our days are shorter and there is less warming hours from the sun.